Alan Baghumian has announced the availability of a new development snapshot of Parsix GNU/Linux. The new beta version, Parsix GNU/Linux 8.15-TEST-2, of the Debian-based project ships with GNOME 3.22 and version 4.4.35 of the Linux kernel. The Adobe Flash player has also been updated. The 64-bit builds support booting on UEFI-enabled computers. "Parsix GNU/Linux 8.15 (code name 'Nev') ships with the stable GNOME 3.22 desktop environment and an updated kernel. This version has been synchronized with Debian 'Jessie' repositories as of November 27, 2016. Parsix 'Nev' ships with the LibreOffice 4.3.3 productivity suit by default. Highlights: GNOME Shell 3.22.2, GRUB 2, Firefox 50.0, GParted 0.19.0, Empathy 3.12.12, LibreOffice 4.3.3, VirtualBox 4.3.36 and an updated kernel based on Linux 4.4.35 with TuxOnIce, BFS and other extra patches. The live DVD has been compressed using Squashfs and xz." A list of changes and key package versions can be found in the project's release notes. Download the live DVD image from SourceForge: parsix_8.15-TEST-2-amd64.iso (1,278MB, MD5, pkglist).

Jim Dean has announced the release of Korora 25, a new version of the Fedora-based distribution with various user-friendly enhancements and a choice of five desktop environments - Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma, MATE and Xfce: "The Korora project has released version 25 (code name 'Gurgle') which is now available for download. Due to popular demand there is a KDE Plasma release. While it has the usual Korora extras, in order to reduce the workload in bringing this back we have made the look more vanilla. Features: Cinnamon 3.2 includes lots of refinements; GNOME 3.22 has improved support for the Wayland compositor, Wayland is now the default for the GNOME edition; Mate 1.16 focused on bug fixes; Xfce 4.12 focused on polishing the desktop and improving the user experience; derived from Fedora 25, Korora benefits from Fedora's long tradition of bringing the latest technologies to open-source software users; 64-bit only." Here is the complete release announcement. Download (SHA256, signature, pkglist): korora-live-cinnamon-25-x86_64.iso (2,092MB), korora-live-gnome-25-x86_64.iso (2,188MB), korora-live-kde-25-x86_64.iso (2,442MB), korora-live-mate-25-x86_64.iso (2,201MB), korora-live-xfce-25-x86_64.iso (2,124MB). Also available from OSDisc.

BackBox Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution used for security assessment and penetration testing. The project has released a new stable version, BackBox Linux 4.7, which upgrades key components and fixes several bugs. "The BackBox team is pleased to announce the updated release of BackBox Linux, version 4.7. We thought to release a new minor version to give our users the opportunity to have a stable and up-to-date system until the next official major release, i.e. BackBox 5, still under development. In this release we have fixed some minor bugs, updated the kernel stack, base system and tools. The ISO images for 32-bit and 64-bit can be downloaded from the official web site download section. What's new? Updated Linux kernel 4.4; updated hacking tools - beef, Metasploit, OpenVAS, SE Toolkit, sqlmap, WPScan." Existing BackBox 4.x users can upgrade to the latest release rather than perform a fresh installation. Further details can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (SHA256) the live DVD image from here: backbox-4.7-amd64.iso (2,358MB, torrent, pkglist). Also available from OSDisc.

Tomasz Jokiel has announced the release of Porteus Kiosk 4.2.0. The Gentoo-based kiosk platform now provides version 4.4.36 of the Linux kernel, Firefox 45.5.1 ESR and Google Chrome 54, along with many other changes. "I'm pleased to announce that Porteus Kiosk 4.2.0 is now available for download. Major software upgrades in this release include: Linux kernel 4.4.36, X.Org Server 1.18.4, Mozilla Firefox 45.5.1 ESR and Google Chrome 54.0.2840.100. Packages from the userland are upgraded to portage snapshot tagged on 20161203. Short changelog for 4.2.0 release: All files used by the clients (wallpaper, screensaver slide show images, browser preferences, proxy configuration) can be hosted directly on Porteus Kiosk Server - no need to use 3rd party web hosting service anymore. If multiple browser tabs were set during installation then it's possible to toggle between the tabs at specific time interval. This is useful for digital signage purposes. Screensaver slideshow can display images in random order instead of alphabetic order...." Further details can be found in the release announcement. Download (pkglist): Porteus-Kiosk-4.2.0-x86_64.iso (62MB, MD5), Porteus-Kiosk-Server-4.2.0-x86_64.iso (63MB, MD5).

Donald Stewart has announced the release of Mageia 5.1, an updated build of the distribution current stable branch. This unscheduled version was put together due to delays delivering the upcoming Mageia 6 which is currently in development. From the release announcement: "We are very pleased to announce the release of Mageia 5.1. This release is a respin of the Mageia 5 installation and live ISO images, based on the Mageia 5 repository and incorporating all updates to allow for an up-to-date installation without the need to install almost a year-and-a-half worth of updates. It is therefore recommended for new installations and upgrades from Mageia 4. If you are currently running Mageia 5 then there is no need to install Mageia 5.1 as it is the same as your system, provided that updates have been installed. Mageia 5.1 ships with many updated packages, including LibreOffice 4.4.7, Linux kernel 4.4.32, KDE4 4.14.5, GNOME 3.14.3 and countless other updates." See also the release notes for detailed technical information. Download links: Mageia-5.1-LiveDVD-KDE4-x86_64-DVD.iso (1,815MB, MD5, torrent), Mageia-5.1-LiveDVD-GNOME-x86_64-DVD.iso (1,622MB, MD5, torrent), Mageia-5.1-x86_64-DVD.iso (3,745MB, MD5, torrent, pkglist). Also available from OSDisc.

The Linux Mint team has announced the availability of a new development snapshot. The new version, Linux Mint 18.1 beta, features a new screen saver which allows the user to control the media player while the screen is locked, giving users the ability to control music playback without unlocking their computer. In the Cinnamon edition of Linux Mint it is possible to enable sounds to accompany on-screen notifications and the Xplayer video player can now blank monitors not in use by the player window. "If you have more than one monitor, you can now press the 'Blank Other Monitors' button when playing a video in full screen. Your video will continue to play and all your other monitors will turn black. The blanking can be toggled back and forth and automatically stops if you leave full screen or close the player. This feature is also available if you plug an external monitor to a laptop, so it allows you to blank the external monitor, or to blank the laptop itself without having to close the lid." These and other changes can be found in the release announcements for each edition (Cinnamon, MATE), in the What's New pages (Cinnamon, MATE) and in the release notes (Cinnamon, MATE). Download (pkglist): linuxmint-18.1-cinnamon-64bit-beta.iso (1,703MB, SHA256, signature, torrent), linuxmint-18.1-mate-64bit-beta.iso (1,783MB, SHA256, signature, torrent).

Simon Long has announced the release of Raspbian 2016-11-25, a security update of the Debian-based distribution for the Raspberry Pi single-board computers: "The more observant among you may have spotted that we've recently updated the Raspbian-with-PIXEL image. With any major release of the OS, we usually find a few small bugs and other issues as soon as the wider community starts using it, and so we gather up the fixes and produce a 1.1 release a few weeks later. We don't make a fuss about these bug fix releases, as there's no new functionality; these are just fixes to make things work as originally intended. However, in this case, we've made a couple of important changes. They won't be noticed by many users, but to those who do notice them and who will be affected by them, we should explain ourselves! What has changed? First, from now on SSH will be disabled by default on our images." Here is the full release announcement with an explanation of the changes made in this release. Download: 2016-11-25-raspbian-jessie.zip (1,469MB, SHA1, torrent, pkglist).

The Trisquel project, a distribution which takes a hard stance in providing free and open source software exclusively, has released a new development snapshot: Trisquel GNU/Linux 8.0 alpha. The new alpha carries the code name "Flidas" and switches the default desktop environment from GNOME 2 to MATE. It also features the Linux-Libre 4.4 kernel. "The image has many of the basic components that will be the base for Flidas. The default desktop environment will be MATE 1.12.1, a fork of GNOME 2 that brings back all the functionality and quality level of previous Trisquel releases. The panel, file manager and control centre are already looking polished. This decision comes from the current editions of GNOME requiring 3D acceleration even in fallback mode, a requirement that in many cases forces the user to choose between a degraded user experience and performance, or the usage of non-free graphics drivers. Instead, we aim to provide a fully functional, highly performing desktop for all users." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement. Download: trisquel_8.0_amd64.iso (827MB, MD5, signature, pkglist).

Devuan is a Linux-based distribution which forked from Debian. The Devuan project works to make a drop-in replacement for Debian which does not feature the systemd technology. The Devuan developers have released a new development version, Devuan 1.0.0 beta 2. "After some important fixes and updates, we continue down our path of providing Debian without systemd by announcing the release of Devuan Jessie beta 2. This interim beta 2 release is another milestone as Devuan continues towards its goal of sustainability as a universal base distribution. beta 2 will be soon followed by a release candidate and the final Jessie release, due beginning of 2017." While this release is still a development beta, the developers report it should provide a safe upgrade path for people who are currently running Debian Wheezy. Further information can be found in the release announcement. Download (SHA256, signature, torrent): devuan_jessie_1.0.0-beta2_amd64_DVD.iso (4,451MB, pkglist), devuan_jessie_1.0.0-beta2_amd64_NETINST.iso (228MB).

José Antonio Calvo has announced the release of Zentyal Server 5.0, a major new version of the project's Ubuntu-based distribution designed for small business servers. This is Zentyal's first build based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS: "The Zentyal development team is proud to announce Zentyal Server 5.0, a new release of the Zentyal open-source Linux small business server with Active Directory interoperability. Zentyal Server 5.0 is based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and it comes with the latest versions of all the integrated software. New features and improvements include: Samba 4.5.1 - the latest released version of Samba directly from upstream, without any custom patch by Zentyal, it comes with all the fixes in the Samba project since Samba 4.3, which are many, specially on the replication code; the Zentyal integration code has been rewritten to no longer need custom patches - this will result in more stability and maintainability; NSS/PAM is now managed with winbind instead of sssd, which is the recommended way...." See the release announcement and changelog for more information. Download: zentyal-5.0-development-amd64.iso (714MB, MD5, pkglist). Also available from OSDisc.

Peppermint OS is a lightweight, Lubuntu-based Linux distribution. The Peppermint team has announced the release of an update (respin) to the project's version 7 installation media. The new media offers a update to the Linux kernel, fixes multimedia keyboard keys, includes better HP printer support through the hplip package and includes support for Bluetooth headsets. "Peppermint 7 Respin (Peppermint-7-20161129) Improvements: all updates to date (including the 4.4 kernel); fixed multimedia keyboard function keys; fixed browsing for Samba network printers; fix for Google Chrome keyring prompt; added hplip for HP Printer support out of the box; added PulseAudio Bluetooth module for Bluetooth headsets; update manager will not prompt to upgrade to the next 'Ubuntu LTS' version by default; 'Firefox Themer' name changed to 'Firefox Theme Lock' to remove confusion over its function." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement. Peppermint OS downloads, signatures and checksum information can be found on the project's home page. Note: Due to an issue with the original ISO, the Peppermint OS team has released an updated spin linked to here. Download: Peppermint-7-20161201-amd64.iso (1,165MB, signature, torrent, pkglist).

3CX Phone System is a specialist, Debian-based Linux distribution designed to run a complete unified communications platform. The 3CX client, included in the distribution, can also be installed separately on most hardware as well as the cloud. It provides a complete open standards-based IP PBX and phone system that works with popular SIP trunks and IP phones. It will automatically configure all supported peripherals and it also comes with clients for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android. The ISO image includes a free license for the 3CX PBX edition. The ISO images contains the standard Debian installer which installs a minimal system with the nginx web server, PostgreSQL database, iptables firewall and Secure Shell. Options not relevant to 3CX have been removed form the distribution. Download the installation ISO image from here: debian-8.6.0-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso (246MB).

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